It took a national televised debacle, one the likes the NFL has never seen before, to end the stalemate between the NFL and the league’s referees.

That now infamous play has changed this NFL season forever.

The Packers are 1-2, tied for last in the NFC North instead of being 2-1 and tied for first place. Meanwhile, the Seahawks are 2-1 and in position to make a run at the postseason.

One referee signaled touchdown while the other referee signaled timeout, which usually happens after an interception.

For the NFL and Goodell, it can’t get any worse. Their refusal to budge and send competent referees to the job has altered the seasons of the both of these teams, and the entire playoffs. Now the league has to hope that both the Packers and the Seahawks miss the playoffs by more than one game so that playoff spots, playoff seedings and home field advantages aren’t impacted. If not, then the whole season has been tainted and compromised by referee mishaps.

While that stain on the season has a chance to fade, the stain on Roger Goodell’s legacy is permanent.

Goodell, commissioner since 2006, built his reputation on protecting the integrity of the league and making player safety a cornerstone of rule changes. He delivered heavy punishments to players like Adam “Pacman” Jones and the Michael Vick for disgracing the game. He instilled rules that banned late hits on the quarterback, head-to-head hits and the hitting a player up high.

However Goodell’s decision to allow heavily outmatched replacement officials to referee NFL games went against both of those principles.

By not putting the highest quality of officials on the field, Goodell disgraced the reputation of the game and allowed the failures of those officials to make the league a laughing matter on television networks nationwide.

The replacement referees weren’t even from the highest level of college. Rather they from non-BCS conferences in Division 1, lower college divisions, junior colleges and high school.

Aside their overuse of pass interference penalties though, the replacement referees penalties called relatively the same amount of penalties as the actual referees did up until this point in 2011.

Hines Ward has some competition for league’s dirtiest offensive player…

Instead, the problem was their inability to control the game. From numerous after-the-play cheap shots to unnecessary player scrums, control was far from the norm.

Redskins quarterback Robert Griffin III told the media that St. Louis Rams defenders hit him several times after the play ended. Video evidence confirmed his remarks.

In week two, Golden Tate delivered a vicious hit on a defenseless player while his quarterback broke the pocket to run the ball. Tate, who wasn’t flagged, should have been called for block-in-the-back. A week later, Tate pushed a defenseless Green Bay defender on the final play on Monday Night’s game.

In all these situations, player safety remained second to Goodell and the league’s dispute with the regular referees. Luckily no player was seriously injured.

The replacement referees put the NFL players’ safety in danger, and Goodell and the league allowed that to happen.

This weekend the regular referees will take over but the damage has been done.

There was plenty of excitement to go around on Monday night in Seattle. The Seahawks were fresh off a win against the Cowboys and ready to show off Russell Wilson, a rookie at the helm of a team with one of the NFL’s most loyal fanbases.

The primetime spotlight and a national TV audience gave the Seahawks the attention they had long been waiting for.

Sacking Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers eight times in the first half, the Seahawks didn’t disappoint either, providing the offense with an opportunity to secure a win that could potentially be a good indicator of a turnaround in the Pete Carroll era.

That opportunity was glorified by one final play. On fourth down and ten yards to go with a mere 8 seconds left on the clock and the Seahawks trailing 12-7, Russell Wilson rolled left, squared up and fired a pass into triple coverage in the back left corner of the end zone.

The questionable call improved Seattle’s Monday Night record to an amazing 17-8.

After hanging in the air for a split second, the ball appeared to have been picked off by safety M.D. Jennings, a play that would have effectively ended the game for a feisty Seahawks squad.

At the last possible moment, however, Seahawks wide receiver Golden Tate got a hand on the secured ball and the two fell to the ground and were smothered by players from both teams, making it difficult to see who had the ball for the longest time.

In what was widely considered to be an outrageous call, both referees signaled a touchdown on the play, giving the Seahawks a 13-12 lead and the victory on the field.

A booth review following the 24-yard touchdown in question led to even more incredulousness. Not only was it revealed that Jennings did in fact have control over the ball at the “moment of truth,” but also Tate pushed Packers defensive back Sam Shields to the ground before leaping to “make the catch.”

The call should have been offensive pass interference and would have, again, ended the game with a Packers win.

Instead, the Seahawks now have a 2-1 record and hold a signature win that could give them the confidence to make a run at either the NFC West crown or a Wild Card spot.

League officials have acknowledged that the ruling on the field was incorrect Monday night but did not make any efforts to condemn the play and certainly didn’t attempt to reverse the call.

A number of the replacement refs were actually fired by the Lingerie Football League.

The league doesn’t have the authority to reverse a call from any game, but the play brings up the bigger issue of poor officiating throughout the first three weeks of the season.

Currently, NFL referees are in the midst of negotiating a contract with the NFL and have been locked out until a deal is reached. “Replacement” referees from the NCAA, Arena Football League, XFL and even the Lingerie Football League have been brought in to try and fill the void and have been berated and criticized by NFL players and coaches for a plethora of blown calls.

NFL refs are trying to gain more complete 401k’s and better compensation, an increase in pay that would cost the NFL just under $40,000 per referee.

While the price is a bit steep to bring these officials back on Sundays, the consistent incorrectness of the replacement refs is making the new contract appear more and more worth it every week.

It’s unclear when we’ll be seeing the likes of Ed Hochuli’s biceps on the field, but for now all we know is that the Packers are 1-2, the Seahawks are 2-1 and there are a lot of unhappy football fans across the nation.